Holiday Diva Dare-Day 4

Good morning Verve peeps, it is Teresa and I bringing to you my project for the Diva Dare.  We are taking a break from the Diva Dare after today until Monday November 28; to give everyone time with their families.  I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with lots of love.

For those of you that are new to this challenge, here is how it works...following each release, we will post a theme that we dare you with, and you'll have two weeks to complete the challenge. During those two weeks, the release team will post their creations and tell you how they answered the dare!

This month's theme is A Handmade Christmas! The theme is pretty broad and can be interpreted in so many different ways...from a lovingly made card, to heartfelt gifts and homemade decorations!  With the Holidays right around the corner, this will be the perfect time to get a jump start on your card and gift making!

So, we DARE you to make a Handmade Christmas card or gift!

 

I answered the dare with Christmas tags to add to my special Christmas gift wrapping this year.  Half the fun for me is the wrapping, I am using kraft paper, with red, and creams.  

Here is a close up of the tag.  My first gift wrapped for the season is for my MIL, I usually have her gifts ready to go before any others.  The to:/from: is from the O Christmas Tree set.

Here is a photos of a few more of the tags; I have used stitching, buttons, and my beloved glass glitter.  The snowflakes are from the Glad Tidings set and I used the new Snowflake Tidings Die set to cut the snowflakes.  I cannot wait to see what you create!

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Want to know how you can win some fabulous new VERVE GOODIES?

1. Play along with us and link up your new A Handmade Christmas creation (posted November 18 or later) to the linky widget below before 9PM Mountain on Thursday, December 8. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store. Verve Stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em we would LOVE to see ‘em!
2. For another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we share our A Handmade Christmas creations. One lucky commenter will win the Verve stamp set of his or her choosing! Winners will be announced on Friday, December 9 right here on the Verve blog.

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You can link up your Handmade Christmas creation on Laurie's post here.

August Release Project Parade ~ Day 12!!!

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Happy Thursday!!! Today is my day, Lynda, to show you my project for Verve's August stamp release. I have decided that I don't like going toward the end of the parade! OH MY GOSH, seeing all the AMAZING project's the Diva's have made so far has put the pressure on to come up with something fantastic and I don't do well under pressure!!! LOLOL!!!

As you probably know by now, the theme this month is "Something Old, Something New". I had a hard time deciding WHICH awesome Verve sets to use!! When cleaning my craft room the other day, I ran across a scrap of old Cosmo Cricket holiday paper and knew I wanted to use that piece on my card. My layout STARTED using this week's Mojo Monday sketch but as I went along.....it really didn't look like the sketch at all!!! LOLOL!!!

The base of this card is Crumb Cake with a layer of Vintage Cream and finally, the darling Cosmo DP on top and Crumb Cake CS on the bottom. The bottom panel was embossed with my Quickutz diamond embossing folder and sponged with Antique Linen ink.

The sentiment, stamped using Vintage Cream, and the tree, stamped using Crumb Cake ink and Artichoke marker, are both from the O Christmas Tree set. The beautiful doves from the BRAND NEW Love Story set were stamped using Vintage Cream and heat embossed using off white embossing powder. The image was then cut out using my Spellbinders Labels Nine, sponge with Antique Linen ink and then matted the image with a Vintage Cream decorative mat.

The tree was accented with white Sparkly Fluff using my Quickie glue pen. Here is a closer look~
The final step was to add the pearl Zva flourishes.

Are you ready to play along? Here's all the details about how you can and win some VERVE:

1. Play along with us and link up your new SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW creation (posted August 25th or later) to the linky widget on the DAY 1 PARADE POST before midnight on Wednesday, September 15th. One lucky stamper will win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Verve Store.

2. For another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout-out in the comments section as we parade our SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW creations. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade will win the Verve stamp set of their choosing!

Home for the Holidays: Day 13

Hi everyone. This month's Verve Project Parade is coming to an end. I've so enjoyed seeing the creative projects the other divas have been sharing! Each one under $10. How cool is that!?! Well, I have a small project to share with you also. I used the smallest Petal Pot that comes packaged with two larger pots for $8.95. Since I only used one, even though it's the smallest one, I'll say it was $2.98. The kisses inside were $3.69. For a total of $6.67.

I wanted to try something a little different and use black as my base and make it clean and simple. I rarely use black or go the CAS route. But I like how this turned out. I used the sentiments "Merry Christmas" and "from our house to yours" from the Verve set Oh Christmas Tree. And the flake from the set Frosty Flakes was stamped with White Craft ink onto black cardstock. The cardstock is all Papertrey. For the finishing touches, I embossed the card and petal pot panels, and added some rhinestones and decorative borders with punches.

Here's a close up of the Petal Pot:
Here's a close up of the card:

So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your homemade goodies for the upcoming giving season! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not use 'em?

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!
To enter, just link up your Home for the Holidays creation to the Mr. Linky widget at Day One's post before midnight MST on Thursday, November 26. One lucky stamper will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Nov 11 - 25) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Home For the Holidays: Day 12

Good Morning Everyone! Its me - Sankari :) and I have been loving peeking at all the amazing and gorgeous samples that the Divas have been making every day - and they maybe under $10 - but they look a million bucks to me!! So to continue the challenge of creating home decor and accents for under $10 - I created a little hanging chipboard star mobile to hang from our light fixture in the dining room. We are always hanging around the dining room table - whether it is for meal times, snack times or craft time with the kids - I thought it would be nice to decorate that area with a starry mobile :) The total cost of 4 chipboard pieces were $2.99 and each of the ribbons were only 50 cents - bringing up the total to a grand ole: $4.99 (and then some change with tax) - gotta love that!

Each star measures approximately 4 inches across. Each one was colored in on the edges and then I traced the star shape onto the lovely Jolly by Golly paper pack from Cosmo Cricket (each star is double sided - so I traced 8 stars on the different papers - and then adhered them paper onto the stars with some zip dry). I absolutely LOVED making this project and love that we can use it every year! I LOVE all of the wonderful sentiments that Julee has in each of her stamp sets along with the gorgeous images! It totally makes it a breeze to create a project like this! The first star has one of my favorite sentiments: "Snowflakes are winter's butterflies" and this sentiment and the two snowflakes are from the set: Christmas in the Air.

On the back of this star is this gorgeous sentiment from Blessed Christmas: "Have a blessed Christmas and a Prosperous New Year".

The second star's design comes from the beautiful set: Holly Jolly: The holly leaves are stamped 5 times and cut out and then popped up on dimensionals and I love the sentiment: "Have a holly jolly Christmas" :)

On the back of this star is the sentiment "Christmas Blessings" from the stamp set: Blessed Christmas. For this star,I created a little pocket so that my children could write all things that they are thankful for and what they wish for their friends, family and the world (my son's wish for everyone is always that everyone gets to have a monster truck! :)

The third star is one of my faves - I love this little winter scene created from the gorgeous setChristmas in the Air.- where I paper pieced the Christmas tree and then created a little snow scene with some crimped snow, popped up trees and some little buttons to the side.

On the back of this star, I used the sentiment "Let it Snow" from the stamp set: "Snow Wonderful" and I cut some of the hats and mittens out of the paper to create a little scene.

The last star has on the front a little coffee mug (which I am imagining is some yummy hot chocolate!!!) from the set "Delightful and Delicious which is also the expression in the sentiment:

And on the back of the star is a wreath that I stamped and colored with copics and is from the set: O Christmas Tree and in the middle of the wreath is the sentiment "Merry Christmas" that fits perfectly in the middle of the wreath. I decorated with some bling and some liquid pearls :)

Here is how this star looks hanging on the dining room light fixture:

I hope you liked this project - its fun to make and its so nice to see something like this on the dining room area where we are always together all the time :)

So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your homemade goodies for the upcoming giving season! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not use 'em?

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!
To enter, just link up your Home for the Holidays creation to the Mr. Linky widget at Day One's post before midnight MST on Thursday, November 26. One lucky stamper will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Nov 11 - 25) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Home For the Holidays - Day 6

Hi there! It's Charmaine! I hope you've been enjoying this month's Project Parade. I know I have. I love all these ideas I'm getting for inexpensive gifts and decor for the holidays!

When I was thinking about this month's theme, I decided to go with something that I haven't done in about 6 years. . .make tree ornaments! I have a bunch of these glass ornaments that I've had since the last time I made these type of ornaments. I don't remember exactly how much they cost, but I know they weren't very expensive.

What I did was stamp the tree image from O Christmas Tree in Olive StazOn ink on a window sheet. I stamped the sentiment in Jet Black StazOn. I die cut the window sheet into a circle that is as wide as the ornament. (it's important that the circle is as wide as the ornament and touches the sides or else it won't stay in place) I added some Christmas Red Stickles to the tree for decoration as well as a star brad. While I let the Stickles dry, I put some Polar White Flower Soft into the ornament. I used the Flower Soft because that is what I had on hand, but I've seen some wonderful "glitter snow" in craft stores that would work just as well. Once the Stickles were dry, I rolled the window sheet up so that it would fit into the ornament. After it fits through the opening, it will open up inside. I used some tweezers to straighen it out. Finally, I tied the ribbon onto the ornament and made a pretty bow. How pretty will these look hanging on a Christmas tree?

So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your homemade goodies for the upcoming giving season! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not show 'em a little love? ;)

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!To enter, just link up your Home for the Holidays creation to the Mr. Linky widget on THIS post before midnight MST on Thursday, November 26. One lucky stamper will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Nov 11 - 25) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Home For the Holidays ~ Day 4

Hi there! It's Laurie, and I'm here to share my project for this month's Project Parade - Home For the Holidays!

I have a list of friends and relatives that I will be making gifts for, but have not made very much progress yet. When I saw the theme this month (which can include gifts, cards, or decor) I knew this would be a perfect opportunity to make some headway on that list! :-) Along with sets of handmade cards, calendars, & home baked goodies, I will be giving specialized hot drink mixes (such as cocoas and coffees). It gets COLD here in Montana, and a yummy hot drink is always a good gift! :-)

I have several containers that I have collected this past year, with the intention of re-purposing them for gifts...such as this tin. Originally it held binder clips, but now is a container for some gourmet coffee mix! Using my circle Nestabilites, I created a "topper" of sorts for my gift...to not only decorate my tin, but also hold the instructions for using the mix.



I chose to use this GORGEOUS wreath from the O Christmas Tree set to decorate the front of my card topper. I just loooove how Julee includes the little extras...like the poinsettia and bow that fit perfectly onto the wreath! She thinks of everything! :-)



Because my topper is a circle, I wanted my sentiment to match. To achieve this, I added a small amount of double sided adhesive directly to my acrylic block and then positioned the stamp in an arch (the adhesive keeps it in place).


For the inside, I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment (also from the O Christmas Tree set), a coffee cup (from Delightful & Delicious), and the instructions (I printed them out on my computer).

Want to see what's inside the tin? :-)


The recipe for the mix is called Spanish Mocha Mix. The ingredients are: 7 Tbsp of instant coffee granules, 4 Tbsp sugar, 1/4 cup of Chocolate flavored powdered non dairy creamer (I used Coffeemate's Swiss Mocha flavor), 3 Tbsp of nonfat dry milk powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
I added a few cinnamon sticks as well.

So, now it's your turn! We'd love for you to play along with us and show us your homemade goodies for the upcoming giving season! Verve stamps are not required, but if you've got 'em, why not show 'em a little love? ;)

And, as with all of our project parades, we've got prizes!
To enter, just link up your Home for the Holidays creation to the Mr. Linky widget on THIS post before midnight MST on Thursday, November 26. One lucky stamper will win a $30 gift certificate to the Verve Store. And for another chance to win, be sure to give the Divas a little shout out in the comments as they parade their fabulous creations inspired by this month's theme. One lucky commenter during the course of the parade (Nov 11 - 25) will win their choice of any Verve set.

Spotlight on Guest Diva Betty Wright

Welcome to another week! We had a ball at our release party on Friday night - learning, among other things, the meaning behind the phrase "Winner, winner chicken dinner!" We announced the winners from last week's blog giveaways as well as our release week challenges over on this thread in our forum, so be sure to check it out. And if you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to stop by the Verve Store to see all seven of our new releases, plus find out what's on sale!

Okay, on with the fun stuff! Today I'm excited to shine our little Verve spotlight on one of this month's Guest Divas, Betty Wright!

Betty (gbedwright on SCS) has been wowing me as a participant in our Verve challenges the last couple months. Her designs are always so detailed, with beautiful dimension, embellishments and a touch of elegance. And from a look at her gallery, I think she might love making square cards even more than I do! Is that possible? A girl after my own heart! :) Her cards for this release were gorgeous in every way, so let's get to the eye candy!

Before I get to Betty's answers to our VERVE-i-view, I'll start things off with this beautiful card using the new O Christmas Tree set. I just love the gorgeous ribbon embellishments, the subtle shading and the elegance of this traditional Christmas card. So beautiful!


When/how did you get hooked on stamping? I went to a Stampin' Up! party and was hooked immediately. My concept of stamping prior to then were those office ink pads and a date stamp.

How often do you stamp? I like to say I stamp at least something every day. I may skip a day here and there. However, just because I stamp does not mean I finish a project or card. Sometimes I am just playing around with background looks and color schemes. This process calms me.

What's your favorite embellishment or finishing detail?
Those little gold and silver pearls at Michael's. I always loved the brads, but I never really know where my card design will go. Often, I would have everything assembled only to think that it needs a few brads here and there. Then, I would have to pry everything apart and add the brads. With the pearls, I just lift and stick. LOVE that!!!

Okay, time for a little eye candy intermission. There's so much to love about this gorgeous card from Betty. The way she used the sentiment to create such an elegant Old World background, and the beautiful way she stacked two of the ball ornaments from Holly Jolly along with a star from Star of Wonder makes my head spin with possibilities! Love it!



How long does it take you to create a project that you're happy with?Honestly, I think the color challenge cards are the quickest. It takes me a bit to choose my colors. Once those are chosen, I then start playing around with color ratios. There have been times where I have completed a card in a little over an hour and times where I have had to walk away from my craft table because I over think it. Many times if this happens frequently in the same day, I will just set that item aside and start something new.

Tell me about your creative space. My craft room is organized chaos....with lots of little pieces of stuff everywhere at times it seems! I know where the most used items go and must have those stay in the right place because when the right brain starts creating the mundane thoughts like where I put the scissors, tape runner, etc.... are not kept in any memory cells. I have to have a place where I force myself to set those so I know where they are. Otherwise, I have to start talking out loud and asking myself questions. My right brain creative moment cannot comprehend thought words, hence the talking out loud part.

What is your usual starting point for a project? Oftentimes, from doing design work, a stamp set is my starting point. It is wonderful to have a challenge to focus on along with the set sometimes, though. Many times I take notes and do actual sketches for specific set cards. I will play around with a layout and a stamp set and figure out what goes where. That is what I call my precrafting stage. It helps me stay focused on big projects if I take notes.

Time for one last card from Betty. This one uses the new Christmas in the Air and Holly Jolly sets. I adore the little heart button she used to mirror the Christmas in the heart sentiment, and the tiny pearls on the tree just dress it up to perfection. A total treat for the eye!


What is your biggest source of inspiration?Of course, I get a lot of inspiration from other people. I like to think we all feed off of each other. However, one of the biggest sources is color. I really love colors!!! Anything from home decor, fashion, billboards, cookware, whatever. If it has color, I am always looking for a way to use the pattern or combo of colors on a card.

Who in the crafting world do you most admire and why? There are a lot of people's work that I admire. However, if I had to say one person, it would have to be Tim Holtz. His products are just amazing!!!! It completely changed the way I stamped. I do not own near enough of his stuff!!!

What is your favorite set from this release? Now, this is hard since I love them all!!! Of course, to be fair, I narrowed it down to two. O Christmas Tree and Holly Jolly. The first one because I love the images. I love making an assortment of Christmas cards, but I sometimes need to make a few fast that are the same. The tree image in this set is a stand alone, no coloring, beautifully shaded tree. Stamp it and it is done look! Aside from that, there are wreaths, a small poinsettia, two Merry Christmas sentiments...a big one and a small one as well as several other fabulous sayings all with the most beautiful font!!! The Holly Jolly set is fabulous because it has ornaments, poinsettias, holly, and sentiments. The sizes vary from true stand alone images, to images that make beautiful stamped backgrounds. Just gorgeous!!!

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little more about this fabulous stamper as much as I have! To see the rest of the projects Betty made for our release, you can check out her Guest Diva album in our gallery, or visit her blog, Stamping to the Wright, for her newest creations. I just loved all of her beautiful creations for our release and she was such a joy to work with. Be sure to give her a little shout out for all her hard work!

Thanks for stopping by! Tune in tomorrow as we shine our spotlight on Jessie Rone!

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O Christmas Tree & Frosty Flakes Sneak Preview

Hi there! It's Charmaine with the last of the sneak previews for Verve's October Release! Are you excited? Do you like what you see so far? I can honestly say I don't have a favorite set this release because I LOVE them all! We hope you do too! Today we'd like to give you a sneak peek of the sets O Christmas Tree and Frosty Flakes. These sets (along with the others you've seen this week) will be available after our Release Party TONIGHT!! We hope you'll join us!

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From the desk of Amber Hight

Hey everybody! Amber here:) I am so excited to share a card I made with Frosty Flakes! This is one of my favorite sets this release because of these fun, rustic snowflakes! Julee has such a defining style, you see a card created with Verve stamps and you KNOW it! Since I see rustic snowflakes when I look at this set, I wanted to use some rustic colors so I chose Chocolate, Kraft, and Rustic Cream (All by PTI). I stamped the snowflakes on the kraft cardstock using Dark Chocolate and Vintage Cream ink. I love how stamping the vanilla ink over the chocolate ink created a muted effect. This card really took on a life of its own after I stamped the background. I searched around some blogs for inspiration once I was done with the dp and found a card by Dawn McVey that allowed the stamped background to be seen under the sentiment and loved it so much that I used her layout! I did some faux stitching on the sentiment panel and added some ribbon (RABOM), a botton, and jute ribbon (both by PTI) to finish it off!

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From the desk of Betty Wright

I am so thrilled to be a Verve Guest Designer this month!!! As always, these new sets are just gorgeous and so fabulous to play and work with! I am showcasing for you today one of my favorite sets, O Christmas Tree! The images are wonderful and the sentiments are just fabulous. For this card I stamped all of my background panels. The small scripty background wording says...."how lovely are your branches." So perfect with this Christmas tree and the "O Christmas Tree" sentiment. I wanted to use hues of rich green, black, and ivory with a vintage feel for my card. I also used the polka dot image from the Bountiful Backgrounds sets to compliment the script look and Christmas tree image. In keeping with my vintage style, I had to add my fou fou ribbon, gold cording, and gold pearl tree decorations and accents! I also used the release party sketch E (VSOCT09E)!

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From the desk of Michelle Woerner

Julee did it again! The stunning wreaths in this set are elegant and fun. As much as I love my layers and embellishments, I need to make most of my Christmas cards CAS. Being easy to mass produce with no extra postage is key!! This card is so easy to make and packs a punch. I stamped the wreath, colored it with copics, die cut it out and framed it using my circle nestabilities. A touch of bling and a strip of Pattern Paper scraps and presto!! The variety of sentiments in this set is perfect for any kind of card! I know you will fall in love with this as I have.

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From the desk of Charmaine Ikach

I LOVE how the bold snowflakes from Frosty Flakes coordinate with the outline snowflakes from Christmas in the Air. I knew I would be pairing those two sets up a lot. I also love how they look good in different colors! Sometimes snowflakes only look good in blue or white, but these big, bold snowflakes really come to life for me in non-traditional colors! I used Perfect Plumeria, Aegean Blue and Spanish Olive VersaMagic chalk inks for my snowflakes. I added a little Rich Razzleberry ribbon and paper piercing leading to the sentiment as finishing touches.

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Like what you’ve seen? Just leave a comment here on this post before 6 PM Eastern TONIGHT, October 23 and you’ll be put in a drawing to win this set! Winners will be announced at our release party tonight. For even more chances to win, be sure to check out the Release Week challenges going on in the Verve Forum for your chance to win our entire release! Hope to see you tonight!